Voters unhappy with BC NDP’s housing moves: poll

Just over a year after the NDP was sworn into office, a new survey suggests B.C. voters aren’t happy with its performance on housing affordability.

An Insights West poll released Wednesday suggests 36 per cent of British Columbians believe housing prices and affordability are the most important issues in the province – more than triple the number of those who chose mental health care, pipelines and the environment.

“Usually the economy, jobs and health care top the public agenda, but the stubborn issue of housing prices and affordability has overshadowed anything else by a long shot and, until some measurable change occurs, it will continue to dominate the public agenda,” said president Steve Mossop in a news release.

Thirty-three per cent of respondents said Premier John Horgan and the NDP are doing a bad job when it comes to combating high housing costs, while 21 per cent said the government was doing a very bad job.

Meanwhile, 24 per cent said the province is doing a good job, and another 22 per cent weren’t sure.

The NDP’s 30-point housing plan includes taxes meant to ease speculation and foreign ownership, as well as a property tax increase to fund schools that has caused uproar in Vancouver’s wealthy west side.

Respondents also took aim at Horgan’s response to the Trans Mountain pipeline.

When asked how good of a job the NDP has done around energy and pipelines, 52 per cent said the politicians are doing a bad job, while only 33 per cent supported their efforts.

The negative response appears to overshadow the good marks the survey delivered on other areas, Mossop said.

About 44 per cent agree with changes the government has made to environment, 41 per cent on education and 40 per cent on health care.